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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Wednesday
Feb232011

The Commentariat -- February 24

Art by Thomas Porostocky.Russ Buettner of the New York Times: "... affidavits filed in a ... lawsuit reveal ... Roger E. Ailes, chairman of Fox News," was accused by his employee Judith Regan of encouraging her to lie to federal investigators who were vetting Bernie Kerik for secretary of Homeland Security. (Kerik, with whom Regan was having an affair, is now in jail, for -- among other things -- lying to White House officials.) "What is more, the documents say that Ms. Regan taped the telephone call from Mr. Ailes in which Mr. Ailes discusses her relationship with Mr. Kerik. It is unclear whether the existence of the tape played a role in News Corporation’s decision to move quickly to settle Ms. Regan’s lawsuit, paying her $10.75 million in a confidential settlement reached two months after she filed it in 2007."

Tom Shanker of the New York Times: Gen. David Petraeus, "the commander of American forces in Afghanistan, will order an investigation into allegations that military personnel were instructed to engage in 'information operations' to convince members of Congress to support the mission, officials said Thursday.... The investigation was prompted by an article released on Thursday by Rolling Stone magazine, which described an 'information operation' or 'psychological operation' ordered by Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, who is in charge of training Afghan security forces." ...

     ... Here's the article by Michael Hastings. Hastings won a George Polk award for his story on Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The upshot of Hastings' report was that President Obama relieved Gen. McChrystal of his command over Afghanistan operations.

Nick Timiraos, et al., of the Wall Street Journal: "The Obama administration is trying to push through a settlement over mortgage-servicing breakdowns that could force America's largest banks to pay for reductions in loan principal worth billions of dollars. Terms of the administration's proposal include a commitment from mortgage servicers to reduce the loan balances of troubled borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth...."

Ditching DOMA

Commentary:

... Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic: with "Ten Takeaways from Obama's DOMA Reversal": "... the real moving force here is U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro. Last July, the Republican appointee, who is revered among federal judges, simply vitiated Section 3 of the DOMA in a ruling now on appeal to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. When the Defense of Marriage Act finally falls, and it surely will, Judge Tauro's ruling will be seen as the turning point. Here, it gave great cover to the administration." ...

... Adam Serwer of the American Prospect: "This doesn't mean the law is defunct -- if the Supreme Court doesn't overturn it, or Congress doesn't pass legislation doing so, DOMA stays on the books." ...

... Lawrence O'Donnell speaks with Glenn Greenwald about the Administration's reversal:

... Greg Sargent: "After the President did the right thing and threw his weight behind the repeal of don't ask don't tell, many argued that his success on that front would only make his position on DOMA less tenable -- basic consistency would demand that his administration stop defending it in court.... The arc of history is bending -- albeit slowly -- in the right direction." ...

... And now for a word from Fox "News," courtesy of Igor Volsky of the Wonk Room: "Fox News invited the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)’s Maggie Gallagher to discuss the development. Gallagher, who’s organization has been spearheading the fight against marriage equality, chastised the president for declaring that 'gay is like black' and promised to 'push very hard' to urge the House of Representatives to defend the law in the administration’s stead." With video, if you'd really like to hear from Gallagher. ...

... Monica Crowley, also speaking on Fox "News" about the Obama Administration's decision, says the President is practicing "a form of dictatorship." That is "Mubarak Obama," says she. The video is here, wherein Lawrence O'Donnell explains why Crowley is an idiot.

The Backstory: "New York Times story here. AND here's the statement from the Department of Justice. AND here's AG Eric Holder's letter notifying Congress of the DOJ's change of position on DOMA.


Prof. Jeffrey Sachs does a nice job of summarizing billionaires'/Congress's attack on the middle class:

I campaigned on (the proposals in the budget repair bill for Wisconsin) all throughout the election. Anybody who says they are shocked on this has been asleep for the past two years. -- Scott Walker, February 21, 2011

... Walker, who offered many specific proposals during the campaign, did not go public with even the bare-bones of his multi-faceted plans to sharply curb collective bargaining rights. He could not point to any statements where he did. We could find none either. -- Politifact (Read their whole analysis.)

... More Fallout from the Prank Call. Mary Bottari of AlterNet: "... if [Walker] is choosing to lay off workers as a political tactic when he wasn’t otherwise planning to do so then it is not just morally repugnant but legally questionable.  State and federal contract and labor law has protections against this type of abusive behavior and inappropriate quid pro quo." ...

... Faking a Budget Crisis. Tim Fernholz of the National Journal: "... while [Wisconsin Gov. Scott] Walker argues that his budget-repair legislation must be passed soon to avoid job cuts, the most controversial parts of his bill would have no immediate effect. The state’s entire budget shortfall for this year -- the reason that Walker has said he must push through immediate cuts -- would be covered by the governor's relatively uncontroversial proposal to restructure the state’s debt. By contrast..., his call to curtail the collective-bargaining rights of the state's public-employees, wouldn't save any money this year." ...

I spent a good deal of time overnight thinking about Governor Walker's response, during his news conference yesterday (Wednesday), to the suggestion that his administration ‘thought about' planting troublemakers among those who are peacefully protesting his bill. I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members. I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers. -- Noble Wray, Chief of Police, Madison

... Monica Davey of the New York Times on life on the lam in Illinois for state legislators from Wisconsin & Indiana. ...

... Having It Both Ways. So now that Indiana legislators, at Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' urging, have dropped their draconian bill to curb the bargaining union rights* of the state's public employees, Daniels gives a speech deriding the unions as "the privileged elite." What a shameful little turd.

     * CW: this I didn't understand: six years ago, Daniels did end collective bargaining rights for Indiana public workers. Now he would like to further curb union rights, such as they are.

Andrew Solomon of the New Yorker on Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddifi's mistakes.

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: Investigators are trying to determine what happened in the attempted rescue of American hostages whom Somali pirates subsequently murdered. Initial information "raises questions about the crucial decision [by a FBI negotiator] to detain the pirate leaders."

Elizabeth Harris of the New York Times writes an item on Donald Rumsfeld's appearance on "The Daily Show." CW: I can't stand to listen, & I just won't embed Rummy but the extended interview is here. After the interview, Rumsfeld tweeted, “Just wrapped up one of the most thoughtful interviews of book tour with @thedailyshow.”

If you have to take the U.S. citizenship test, give the answers the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services want, not the correct answers. CW: I took the test a while ago & found another incorrect answer which the writer of this piece, Dafna Linzer, doesn't mention.

Right Wing World

Alex Pareene of Salon: "In the parallel media universe of the right-wing blogosphere, this is the single biggest story of the week. Maybe the month, even. A union thug viciously attacked an innocent young woman, in broad daylight. And it's all on camera! Or, like, a guy pushed a camera that was six inches from his face, wielded by someone engaging him in a heated argument." With video of the "vicious thug," whom Freedom Works provoked in Washington, D.C., not Madison, Wisconsin. Pareene adds, "Because these people are completely fucking shameless, the woman from the video has compared herself to Lara Logan." CW: Yup. Provoking someone to push your camera away is just like getting gang-raped in Cairo.

Local News

Marc Lacey of the New York Times: "Arizona lawmakers are proposing a sweeping package of immigration restrictions.... Illegal immigrants would be barred from driving in the state, enrolling in school or receiving most public benefits. Their children would receive special birth certificates that would make clear that the state does not consider them Arizona citizens. Some of the bills, like those restricting immigrants’ access to schooling and right to state citizenship, flout current federal law and are being put forward to draw legal challenges in hopes that the Supreme Court might rule in the state’s favor."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Fighting between Libyan opposition groups and government paramilitary forces moved closer to the capital, Tripoli, on Thursday, as residents braced for a potential push to oust Moammar Gaddafi's regime from the city." ...

... New York Times: "Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi were reported to be striking back in several cites surrounding Tripoli on Thursday, as rebellion crept closer to the capital and defections of military officers multiplied."

New York Times: "After years of fighting for control of a prominent valley in the rugged mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the United States military has begun to pull back most of its forces from ground it once insisted was central to the campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The withdrawal from the Pech Valley, a remote region in Kunar Province, formally began on Feb. 15.... Afghan units will remain in the valley, a test of their military readiness."

Chickens. Washington Post: "With a political standoff over spending threatening to trigger a federal shutdown next week, Senate Democrats began drafting a plan Thursday to slice billions of dollars from domestic agency budgets over the next seven months, yielding to Republican demands to reduce the size of government this year."

AP: "A small earthquake has hit Hawaii, with a jolt felt across Honolulu." PROBABLY BECAUSE ...

... AP: "Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed same-sex civil unions into law Wednesday, calling it 'a triumph for everyone' that gay and lesbian couples will have the same state rights as married partners."

New York Times: "A 20-year-old Saudi Arabian student living in Texas has been arrested by federal agents, who charged him with planning to build bombs for terror attacks in the United States.... According to an [FBI] affidavit..., the student, Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, indicated in online research and in a journal that he was considering attacking the Dallas residence of former President George W. Bush as well as hydroelectric dams, nuclear power plants, nightclubs and the homes of soldiers who were formerly stationed at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq."

Guardian: "Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Assange will appeal, his legal team confirmed. If this is unsuccessful, he will be extradited to Sweden in 10 days. Delivering his ruling at a hearing at Belmarsh magistrates court in London, the chief magistrate Howard Riddle systematically dismissed each of the defence's arguments against Assange's extradition." New York Times: "A British court on Thursday ordered Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, to be extradited to Sweden to face accusations of sexual abuse. His lawyers have seven days to appeal the ruling and immediately indicated that they would [do] so."

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